These apple pie filled donuts are the perfect fall food – add some red caramel sauce and some toasted walnuts and you now have spooky halloween bloody donuts!
So episode 3 is over, PHEW! and I MADE IT! GAH, the finale of Food Networks Halloween Baking Championship only has one episode left, just me and the boys now!
I’m happy the Rudy got a double win, he’s seriously one of my favorite people and he’s SO crazy talented, glad some of it shown through. Personally the speed is really killing me, I’m making silly mistakes, but I’m still having a BLAST!
SO preheat – doughnuts! REALLY? those stupid biscuit doughnuts from last week were horrible, now it’s time to redeem myself, but all of a sudden I realize, I make RAISED doughnuts, not cake doughnuts…
I’ve NEVER made cake doughnuts! Do I have time to make raised? We’ll see! I’d rather stick with what I know, what I am familiar with, than risk something crazy I’ve never tried before.
I thought Audrey’s Pate a Choux crullers were brilliant, BTW. And I wish I could have tried Rudy’s doughnuts!
On the show I used fast rising yeast, to help cut the rise time down, and I think overal it was fairly successful! If I’d had just 10 more mins of rise time I think that would have made all the difference. That and toasting my walnut brains! GAH.
So the only thing I changed from the show was the blood. On the show I couldn’t think of a good “blood” that would compliment my cinnamon apple doughnuts, so I went with just a corn syrup, red dye and cocoa.
It worked, but was thinner than I wanted, and kept sliding off the walnuts. Using my Caramel Sauce this time was PERFECTION! just thick enough, AND the flavor fit the doughnuts brilliantly!
Caramel Apple Pie Donuts
If you love these apple pie stuffed donuts as much as I do, I’d love a 5 star review. Be sure to share on social media and tag me if you make it @ashleemariecakes! If you want to stay updated on new recipes sign up for my newsletter and join my Facebook Group!
Here are the other six recipes I made while on Food Network’s Halloween Baking Championship
Charred Blood Orange Tart | Graveyard Pumpkin Blondie | Bloody Mummy Crepe cakes
Chocolate Caramel Spider Cupcakes | Chocolate Peanut Butter Ghost Brownie | Store bought monster donuts
Don’t miss this Halloween ebook – 18 family friendly spooky recipes for you to enjoy, perfect for a fun Halloween party
To watch me make these Bloody Brain Apple Doughnuts play the video in the recipe card. You can find all my cooking show style recipe videos on YouTube, or my short recipe videos on Facebook Watch, or my Facebook Page, or right here on our website with their corresponding recipes.
Bloody Brain Caramel and Cinnamon Apple baked doughnuts
Ingredients
Baked Raised Doughnuts
- 1 C whole milk warmed
- 1 Tbsp yeast
- 1 tsp granulated sugar
- 1/4 C butter
- 1/2 C granulated sugar
- 1 lrg egg
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 tsp vanilla
- 3 C+ all-purpose flour
Apple Pie Filling
- 4 Tbsp butter
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/8 tsp nutmeg
- 1/3 C granulated sugar
- 5 Medium apples
- 3 Tbsp water
- 1 Tbsp lemon juice
- 4 tsp cornstarch
- 2 Tbsp water
Caramel Syrup
- 3/4 C packed light brown sugar
- 3/4 C granulated sugar
- 1/2 C light corn syrup
- 1/3 C butter
- 2/3 C heavy whipping cream
- Super red Gel Color
Glaze
- 1 1/2 C powdered sugar
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 4 Tbsp whole milk
- 1 tsp vanilla
Brain
- 12 whole Walnuts
- Salt
Instructions
Dough
- proof the yeast in the milk with the 1 tsp sugar
- Beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy
- Add the egg and mix.
- Add the milk/yeast, the salt and vanilla and mix.
- Switch to a dough hook and add 2 cups of the flour and mix, then add 1/4 C of flour at a time until the dough gathers around the hook and cleans the side of the bowl. don’t add too much flour
- Turn out and knead, place in an oiled bowl and let rise 1 hour
Filling
- peel, core and slice apples, cut into small pieces
- melt butter, cinnamon, nutmeg and sugar over medium heat
- stir in apples, 3 Tbsp water and lemon juice
- cover and cook stirring occasionally 4-6 min until slightly soft
- in a small bowl combine cornstarch and water, add to pan stirring, cook apples until soft and filling is thickened, let bubble 1 min
Syrup
- In a medium saucepan, combine sugars, syrup, and butter.
- Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until mixture comes to a full boil, about 5-8 minutes.
- Remove from heat and cool 5 minutes.
- Stir in whipping cream
- Stir in Red Dye
Brain
- Preheat oven to 350
- Spread the walnuts onto a baking sheet and sprinkle with some salt
- cook for 8-10 mins, until golden, let cool
Doughnut Assembly
- Roll out about 1/4 inch thick and cut into 3 inch rounds
- Get half of the circles damp with some water around the edges
- fill HALF of the circles with about 1 Tbsp of apple filling
- top with the other half and press into place, re-cut to SEAL the edges
- place on baking sheet and let rise 20 mins, about doubled in size
- Preheat the oven to 400
- Bake doughnuts for 5-8 mins
Glaze
- Mix the powdered sugar, cinnamon, milk and vanilla
Assembly
- Dip the warm doughnuts in the glaze
- dip each walnut in the caramel sauce, and place on top of doughnuts
- drizzle on more caramel “blood”
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